Thursday, January 19, 2017

Mirrorshades/Cyberpunk

Before we had the goggles and hair falls of the 00s cybergoths, we had the mirrorshades (should be spelled "mirror shades" but I'm spelling them as one word...you'll see why) and gelled hair of the 90s cyberpunks. Mirrorshades were pretty much the most important accessory if you wanted to look like a badass. The glasses are opaque and have a reflective surface, which has a somewhat anti-social effect in real life. Eyes are the window to the soul, and it's odd when you're being reflected back to yourself when you are talking to someone.

I've seen it pop up here and there in nu-goth styles as an alternative to those round, glamorous sunglasses they like to wear. I feel reflective shades are creepier, and these would work for more sinister looks. As a whole, dark fashion has been more beautiful/sexy/feminine in recent decades, and these aesthetically are uncanny, soulless, and masculine.

Historically, these were mostly worn by men. If you were around in the 90s, maybe you remember all the goateed guys in these glasses, usually wearing leather coats or trench goats and combat boots. This was an archetypal character in a lot of books, movies, and games, and you were a badass if you dressed like that.

True, none of the photos above have the reflections drawn in. But I know they're mirrorshades. How do I know? Because literally every character in every cyberpunk book or movie wore them. If you were a badass counter-culture person (like all the anarchist characters) you wore them. So much so, the definitive short story collection was called Mirrorshades.

For some reason, this look, the basic rivethead/cyberpunk look, (trench coat/combat boots/mirrorshade-wearing anarchist badass look) went out style in the late 90s. I wonder why??? I'd always assumed they'd taken my black trenchcoat because it was so awesome they wanted it for themselves. The final nail in the coffin was the legion of comic book dorks with no fashion sense who tried to ape the look with what they could get from K-mart or Walmart.

10 comments:

Sadly the trench coat/combat boot thing died out because of the Columbine shooting. I wore a floor length trench throughout high school, it lives in tatters in the closet still. One person made a snarky comment about it to me, that I was trying to dress like the shooters or something, which went over my head at the time because I couldn't place "Columbine". And I'm up here in Canada! I can only imagine the harassment kids in the US got for wearing them. All that being said though, like the mirror shades,it's time trench coats made a comeback. Elie Saab came out with this gorgeous floor length trench in black with embroidered bell sleeves.

THAT LAST PICTURE THOUGH.... speechless XDDDDDDI never thought about mirrorshades being masculine. True! All the allegedly badass guys wore them. I love their round shape, definitely makes for various alternative styles. Could be cool if they'll come back, I love seeing them on people :P

Allright, I have never thought about mirrorshades as a fashionable thing... It just makes me laugh and it reminds me Nicolas Cage's quote from Wild at Heart... "Did I ever tell you that this here jacket represents a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom" :D I think he's not even wearing mirrorshades, but he's the type youre talking about. But wearing mirrorshades to see how others suffer while watching themselfs instead of eye contact sounds like nice and evil plan :D